Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Change in Perception (4)
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I want to make more memories with the person precious to me.
Who in the world wouldn't think that?
-Rrring, rrring.
The phone rings at steady intervals before cutting off abruptly.
A woman's mechanical voice echoes through the room.
-...You will now be connected to voicemail, and call charges will apply-
-Click.
"...Why isn't he picking up?"
Azalea stares blankly at the screen, about to dial again, but then remembers her situation and tosses the phone onto the bed.
"He's probably busy."
She flops onto the bed, arm draped over her forehead, muttering to herself.
"Am I being too clingy...?"
After midterms.
Five days had passed since she'd resolved to deepen her relationship with that man.
Of course, there hadn't been any proper meetings in that time. No real progress in their relationship either.
"...What am I supposed to do?"
She'd called to make plans, even dropped hints subtly...
Aside from a few times she'd brought potions out of worry, they hadn't even seen each other.
She could brush it off as him being busy, but women's hearts didn't work that way.
It was her first time feeling these emotions, so she was bound to be clumsy about expressing them.
"Sugar crash."
Azalea grabs a chocolate from the basket on the nightstand, unwraps it, and pops it in her mouth.
The sweetness lingers on her tongue, making her grin for a moment. But she keeps staring at her phone, just in case.
-Bzzz!
"Huh? Wh-what?"
The phone starts vibrating.
'...What should I say first? Hello? Good morning...?'
Panicking briefly at the sudden situation, she lunges across the bed to check the screen before it cuts off.
[010-xxxx-xxxx]
[Bead]
"...Oh."
Her soaring expectations crash into utter disappointment. Her flushed face cools in an instant.
"She never calls unless it's about food..."
Grumbling pointlessly, she answers.
"Hello...?"
[Ah, hello~ Hehehee. Thought of you after a while, so I called. Everything okay? That tournament last time was such a shame.]
"Ah, yeah. It was. I've been a bit busy lately."
[Huh? Why do you sound so down?]
One of the people around her who'd grown distant lately because she'd pulled away on purpose.
Still, Bead always called Azalea so casually.
Anyone else, and Azalea might have ignored the check-in call.
But she didn't avoid Bead's.
Originally, she'd distanced herself from others out of guilt for seeing them as tools.
'...Bead's different.'
Her relationship with Bead was a bit special.
Back when she attended the officer academy, actively recruiting people for her revenge.
That's when she'd talked with Bead and realized something.
[Something bothering you?]
A sly fox.
Someone like her. Always hiding secrets, never showing her true feelings.
They'd met for years, but Azalea still didn't know Bead's background.
"Worried?"
[Yeah, your voice sounds dead.]
"...Plenty of worries. Like not making it into the Forest Keeper selection."
[Is that really all?]
'She's sharp.'
Azalea presses her hand to the phone and sighs quietly so the sound doesn't leak.
Time to make an excuse and hang up.
As she opens her mouth for that, a thought flashes through her mind.
Bead.
One of the top heavenly beauties at El Academy's Korean branch.
If Cornus exuded an untouchable noble aura, Bead was the classic school beauty—always smiling, friendly, cute, with straight black hair. Rumors said she had the look of first love.
...So, wouldn't Bead know how to flirt with guys?
She was always at parties, and quite a few guys Azalea knew secretly had crushes on her.
That gave solid ground to her one-sided theory.
"...Hey."
[Yeah?]
"Have you ever dated? I'm really, truly, seriously curious."
[...Oh ho?]
Playfulness creeps into Bead's voice.
[Hehehee. Azalea, you've never dated in your twenty years?]
'Knew she'd say that.'
A tiny arrow pierces Azalea's heart.
[So, what? Got a crush?]
"No, it's not that I like him."
[Gasp, confession?]
"...Huh?"
Azalea closes her eyes, recalling the past.
They didn't meet much now... but she distinctly remembered something like a confession.
She remembered every conversation with Lee Si-heon without fail.
-No, I was just surprised since I'd seen you in the papers.
The first words when they met.
-I wanted to be friends, but my feelings got ahead of me.
She'd thought it annoying at the time, but looking back, it was embarrassing.
And the one that stuck most.
-For some reason, you were all I could think about.
Back when she was struggling with depression and impulses. Words Lee Si-heon left her at a drinking party.
She didn't know what he meant... but.
Wasn't that basically a confession?
A guy telling a girl she's all he thinks about.
Her face heats up.
Evidence swells for her baseless hypothesis that him not answering wasn't waning interest but just busyness.
"Not a confession, but... something similar."
[Oh my oh my oh my. I'm so jealous.]
"Why's your speech suddenly like that?"
[Just felt like it? Hehe. Drama aunties say it a lot. Tried imitating. Uh... so, how is he?]
"...Not bad, I guess."
[Hmm, high chance of quick breakup then.]
"Actually... I think I like him too."
Kyaak~ Bead squeals and flops over, the sound coming through the phone.
[So?? Who is it, who?!?!]
"Why are you so excited?"
[Other people's love stories are the most fun.]
"... ."
Silence, and Bead continues.
[If you like him, just accept the confession.]
"It was confession-like, but not actually..."
[Aha, beat around the bush? Testing if he likes you? How?]
"Always helps me... snaps me out of it when I'm struggling."
[True love! True love! Why else would he help like that? Definitely into you.]
Bead starts fangirling.
Azalea closes her eyes, recalling again.
'...Is that it?'
Bead's words were reasonable love logic.
Lee Si-heon had avenged her. Always there when human relationships felt alienating.
When sick, he'd shocked her into snapping out of it.
Asked why, he said because he kept thinking of her...
"N-no way."
[He put in a lot of effort. If you like him, confess straight up.]
"...How do you confess?"
[Wait. That's where you're at...?]
Even with conviction inside, a total newbie couldn't show it outwardly.
[Just text it. If you're that close.]
"That okay?"
[Why hesitate? Someone else might snag him.]
Someone else...
Azalea thinks quietly.
'Cornus.'
For some reason, from a certain point, they'd been sticking close. She often saw them together, stirring quiet anxiety.
"...Hmm."
As she brainstorms, Bead suggests.
[How about the training camp? Show everyone you're into him.]
"Show how?"
[You know, 'bring your closest opposite-sex friend!' He comes right over and you claim him.]
That could work. Azalea etches the advice in her mind.
But what if that doesn't come up?
[I'm hosting the rec games at the camp!]
"...!"
First time Bead's advice actually helps!
"Really?"
[Of course. Ah... but I'm crashing sugar-wise lately-]
"Cake?"
[Bingo~ Let's meet later and talk!]
Call ends.
Closing the phone, Azalea giggles inwardly.
If things go well... maybe not just getting closer abstractly, but something more solid.
Hugs... and deeper.
-Bzzz!
"...Whoa."
Vibration snaps her reverie; she checks the phone.
-Calling regarding the orphanage. Any additional changes to the last proposal?
Orphanage. Started by Azalea amid rising Ent incidents orphaning kids.
Jinmok Childcare Foundation.
A nest for wounded children.
As a cadet, she handled corporate duties too.
Tough, but doable.
Her growth phase of pain and embarrassment was ending.
Thanks to that man, Azalea thought.
-Missed call [Lee Si-heon] 1
"Ah."
Flipping through contacts for the business call, she spots the missed one from talking with Bead.
"... ."
Lee Si-heon.
Staring at the name, she thinks. Her lips curve up unconsciously.
The kiss from drunken impulse, symbol of their bond.
A mistake, but the sensation lingered vividly.
And offering her cheek too.
"Hehe."
Azalea's smile drips with what they call obsession.
*****
-The customer is on another call. Beep, then connected to voicemail. Call charges apply.
A woman's mechanical voice from the phone.
Doesn't answer.
Afraid with affection maxed, but knowing she's talking to someone else stirs needless anxiety.
'...She's fine, right?'
Jealousy once made Hwangdo, strongest among trees I know, knock out Baekdo and Cheondo.
'Thinking of sweet Hwangdo turning like that... what about Azalea?'
Not jealousy, obsession.
Surprised she feels that for me.
Told her not to, but she insists on polite speech, so I thought boundaries were set...
'How could I have known.'
"Si-heon."
"Yeah?"
"Another girl?"
Look at that. Hwangdo's eyes change.
'No. On second thought, noona's been aggressive at night forever.'
Then jealous Hwangdo isn't much change.
Too complicated. Why this sudden shift?
"...Si-heooon. Not the time for girls."
-Crunch.
Hwangdo scolds me, pressing something round and smooth to my mouth.
Even now, her cheeks keep chewing steadily.
'...'
I smile bitterly and bite into the fruit.
"Eat it within 10 minutes."
Our water peaches overflowing from the bed, rolling on the floor.
Windfall sometimes brings tears to farmers' eyes—feels like that for me too.
"Si-heon, chew faster!"
"Yes."
Acorns really are the best value.
The thought hits me anew.